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Diane Mack
'Diane Mack '''is a character in the TACITUS series, introduced in the story "Absurdism vs. Christianity". In the story, she is described as an "Absurdist", a person who believes that human minds are too limited to objectively determine if life has any meaning at all, and who actively questions the main point in having faith in God. Later on in the TACITUS saga, it is revealed that Diane is part of another organization, a network of corporate saboteurs, secret agents, hackers and people bright minds known as Chimera, and that she was planted from within New Dawn as a double agent. Biography Early life Not much is known about Diane's early life, except for the fact that she was born in San Diego (her family was vacationing in San Diego when she was born), her mother is currently an artist, and she is the oldest of three kids. At one point in her life, she dropped out of college due to finanicial and academic troubles. Later, it was revealed that her father Terrence was killed in the November 2015 Paris Attacks perpetrated by the Islamic State of New Palestine. Unlike Emmett, who was angry at the terrorists, yet hopeful that justice would be served, Diane came out of the terrorist attacks a mentally damaged person. She came to believe that the terrorist attack was an "accident", a "glitch" in the framework of what she believed should have been a linear timeline. The Mack Coalition She is mentioned in The Mack Coalition, where it is revealed that she is the maternal twin sister of Emmett Mack. She later appears at the end of the story, where it is revealed that, like Emmett, Diane has had a history hooking up with multiple men and being in platonic relationships, a trait that is later revealed to have been inherited from their parents, who also had a platonic relationship with each other prior to marriage. New Dawn and beginnings of Absurdism Sometime after the events of The Mack Coalition, Diane encountered a scavenger hunt/alternate reality game that led to her chasing clues across town. Because she was still coming to terms with her father's death, Diane felt she had nothing else to live for and soon became obsessed with the game after she was promised a prize that led to her having a fulfilling and meaningful life. However, unbeknownst to her, this game was actually a recruiting tool for an international terrorist organization known as New Dawn. According to Diane herself, after realizing New Dawn's true colors, she defected and was consequently marked for termination and pursued across the country. Following this, Diane's perception of reality warped. She began to believe that, if a simple human like her could fall for false messages of finding meaning in life through a scam in the form of a game, then all of life must be the same: a meaningless, absurd, and frustrating conflict between humanity's desire for meaning in life and the inability to find it, that life offers deceptive lies about giving people meaning in purpose in life, only to "rip them off" and trick them into a life of vanity, frustration, and meaninglessness. It was here that she grew to accept the worldview of Absurdism . Revealing her true colors At one point during her run in from New Dawn, she encountered Task Force Reaper member Vince Crosby and his friends in TACITUS. She convinced Vince, TACITUS and the Reapers to help her evade New Dawn operatives, whom she claim were attempted to kill her after she "betrayed" them and they later took shelter in a deserted building in Chicago. It was here that Diane abruptly revealed her true colors after she saw Vince Crosby viewing a news article detailing an organization named "Chimera." Appearing to betray both the Reapers and TACITUS, Diane reveals herself as a double agent for Chimera, a syndicate comprising of people from various walks of life, committing acts of sabotage against major perceived evil organizations. When asked whether her absurdism ideology was also part of her cover, she confirms that her Absurdist ideology is real, though Vince Crosby and the others are not so convinced. She then attempts to recruit Vince and his allies into Chimera, only for Vince to turn her down in order to conduct "further investigation." Sometime later, she forms a team of Chimera agents and saves the Reapers from an ambush at the hands of New Dawn assassins, claiming that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Recognizing that they share a common enemy, Diane's team forms an uneasy partnership with the Reapers and TACITUS to fight against New Dawn, with the intention of severely crippling the organization by eliminating its head, Zoltan Fazekas, and his lieutenants. Shutting New Dawn down ''TBA Mission failed Following this, Diane reported back to her superiors at one of Chimera's many safehouses in New York City. Arthur Guérette, head of Chimera, congratulates her for her actions, although Diane regrets attempting to recruit her allies into her organization. After Arthur assures her that no harm was done, Diane worried that maybe infiltrating New Dawn was a bad idea after all (she apparently had qualms about it prior to the whole operation). However, Arthur told her that even if she died, it would be an honorable death and an "acceptable sacrifice" in the name of global justice. Masks off Sometime after the joint coalition between Nether Company, TACITUS and Task Force Reaper shut down New Dawn's conspiracy and crippled the organization, Nikolai Kalinin and a handful of others, still wanting answers to Diane's "betrayal" of the team, confronted Diane about her little "stunt". She later revealed that she had orders from Chimera to infiltrate New Dawn, but the operation failed when she was compromised. She had new orders from her handlers to go to "Plan B" and recruit Vince and his allies into Chimera, in the hopes that doing so would provide her organization with an edge against New Dawn and destroy them. When that failed (due to Vince Crosby and his allies finding out about Chimera and potentially compromising her status as a sleeper agent), she had orders to either blackmail them into joining Chimera, with orders to eliminate them if they refuse any further. This was an order Diane disagreed with, as she still thought they could be convinced if she could earn their trust. TACITUS agent Derek Westbrook, finally understanding, remarks that if Chimera seriously wanted a partnership, they should've come to ask Director Collins personally, even though doing so would compromise Chimera's status as a shadowy organization. Vince and the others initially dismiss her claims as ludicrous nonsense, until Ellie Cohen and several people in Nether Company point out that if Chimera is telling the truth and that New Dawn is too big an organization to take down alone, then a partnership is the only logical explanation. While Vince and the others argue amongst themselves, Nether Company member Harley Lynx asks Diane for a means to contact her superiors, claiming that she may have a way to make this partnership work out. Life: A Compilation In'' Life: A Compilation'', Diane is introduced in the short story "Christianity vs. Absurdism". In the story, she is with Gerald Moore and engages with some Christian college students in a conversation about spirituality, during which Diane reveals that she is an Absurdist. Afterwards, she has a brief dialog with Gerald Moore about the latter's view of Jesus Christ's claim to be the only way to God. Sometime between the events of that short story and another short story called "A Street Preacher vs. Street Hooligans", it is revealed that Diane Mack eventually dropped out of college due to unknown circumnstances and later joined Task Force Reaper. In "A Street Preacher vs. Street Hooligans", Diane recounts an incident where she and Vinnie Crosby encounter a street preacher while in Huntington Beach, Florida, during a cyber-operation. Personal details Physical appearance Diane Mack is described as a young girl in her early twenties with brown hair and brown eyes. She is 5'6" and has a slim body build. Personality Diane used to be a bubbly, lively child, having a rather happy childhood. However, everything shattered with a series of family tragedies and bad experiences, starting with her father's death in Paris during the terrorist attacks in November of 2015, continuing with her brother Emmett abruptly leaving her for a "life of adventure", and culmilating with the infamous New Dawn conspiracy, where she was lured into New Dawn supposedly to "fix the world", when she was really being used as an accessory to murder, which led her to defect. Ever since then, she has been a cold, angry, and pessimistic person. As a Chimera operative, Diane became a cold, powerful, dark and manipulative person whose specialty is duping people. She was able to hoodwink multiple people-Vince Crosby, his Reaper allies, and even New Dawn itself. She justifies her actions by claiming that "History is written by the Victor" and that she is focused on doing everything necessary to win out. To this end, she is considered a sort of antihero-she is willing to do the right thing, even if it's for personal gain on her part. Habits and beliefs Although she was raised in a churchgoing family, Diane considered herself agnostic. After the death of her father, the abrupt departure of Emmett from her life, and the Black Rhino conspiracy, she adopted the worldview known as "Absurdism", the idea or belief that human beings exist in a purposeless, chaotic universe that offers them false promises of a meaningful existence, only to expose its true colors and leave people with empty hearts, robbed of an empty hope, and ultimately a meaningless existence. She espouses no particular religious beliefs or faiths, instead believing that if God exists, he is unknowable (kind of like Emmett Mack), and humans cannot understand His purpose. She is often seen challenging people of faith to argue for how God, if He exists, can make life meaningful, given that humans cannot fully understand or know God themselves. Like Emmett, Diane also takes a great fascination with Christian Theology, often times objecting that knowing Jesus personally surely is not enough to give one's life meaning, and that following Jesus Christ couldn't possibly make life better or more meaningful at all. In fact, given that Christians also suffer just like atheists, Muslims and Agonstics, following Jesus really makes no difference-suffering will occur, no matter what faith you believe in. She commonly wrestles with the seeming contradiction that Christianity holds the ultimate meaning in life, yet Christians suffer evil and hardships just like atheists, or people of the other faiths. Trivia *Originally, Diane Mack and Emmett Mack were not related, but this was later changed. *She is also the first character to infiltrate multiple organizations simultaneously: Task Force Reaper, TACITUS, and New Dawn Gallery Mack.png Mack's college database pic.png I don't like being followed.jpg|Diane Mack shows her true colors Confronting the sibling.jpg|Diane Mack's first (chronological) appearance Smith & Wesson M&P Shield.jpg|The Smith & Wesson M&P Shield, one of Diane's weapons of choice Car incoming.png Head start.png You're going to make me lose.png You're trying to sabotage me.png You playing too?.png Climbing a fence.png Seeing something.png Looking at a sign post.png Leaving.png In the diner.png Onto something.png Torn between life and the game.jpg|Diane Mack on her laptop, torn between forfeiting the ARG/ scavenger hunt or winning it Diane.jpg|Profile of Diane Diane Mack returns.png|"Who are you guys? Why did you bring me here?" Diane questions why Vince Crosby brought her to meet Task Force Reaper Diane Mack as a Goth.png|Diane as a Goth chick Beretta Px4 Storm INOX.jpg|A Beretta PX4 Storm Inox, a handgun that Diane personally owns and uses quite often Beretta Px4 Storm SD.jpg|Beretta Px4 Storm SD (Special Duty) with extended barrel, another pistol that Diane commonly uses Category:Non-Christians Category:Vigilantes Category:Characters of The Mack Coalition Category:Double agents Category:Morally ambiguous characters